SKIT Day 11: Santa Rita Mountains

Daily Miles: 18.4, Total Miles: 137.3

Just had a small cherry pie and leftover trail food and got my earliest start yet from the Stage Stop Motel.

A short walk out of town, turned north and headed for the Santa Rita Mountains on FR72. Twelve miles got me to the Walker Basin TH up Temporal Canyon. The dirt road gradually gained elevation but steepened near the TH. Definitely deer hunting season, passing several roadside camps.

The SKIT actually takes a different route from here for a few miles. It heads higher and closer to Mt Wrightson Peak before dropping back down to the AZT. I, however, opted to stay on the AZT and hiked up Walker Basin Trail and over a saddle down into Casa Blanca Canyon, the site of another camp I had on the AZT. Got some good water out of the canyon pools before contouring around the hills. Part of the trail was along an old drainage channel constructed to bring water to the old gold mines.

I made camp just before Tunnel Springs TH and Gardner Creek. Met only two AZT hikers and a day hiker/bird watcher today.